Paris, July 23, 2013
England, France had been pushing the listing after Bulgaria bus bombing
A truck carries the bus damaged by the suicide bomb blast which targeted a group of Israeli tourists at the airport in Bourgas, Bulgaria, on July 19, 2012.— Photo: AFP
European Union Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels put an end to months of wrangling by deciding to place the military wing of the Lebanese Hizbollah on list of terrorist organisations. But EU sources in Brussels warned against jumping to conclusions saying “the question has not yet been formally adopted”. That process could take another two to three days, sources said.
In many ways this was a historic win for Britain and France, who have been arguing for placing the Iran-supported Shia militia and political movement on the EU’s terror list following a terrorist attack on a bus in Bulgaria a year ago in which five of the seven persons killed were Israelis. But the 28-member EU is notoriously divided on almost every aspect of dealing with West Asia, whether it has to do with Iran, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon or Syria.
The United States and Israel have both been pressing for the EU to place the Hizbollah on its terrorist list. In a debate lasting months, Ireland and Malta were the most reticent, as was Austria which fears for the safety of its troops deployed as part of U.N. operations in Lebanon in areas under the direct control of the Hizbollah. The political wing of the Hizbollah is part of the government in Lebanon and the Lebanese government had officially tried to dissuade the EU from taking such a decision.
“We cannot allow the military branch of the Hizbollah to carry out terrorist activity in the European Union,” Guido Westerwelle, the German Foreign Minister explained.
The decision by the EU to place the Hezbollah’s military wing on its terrorist list means freezing its assets. But how to disentangle the military from the political is going to be a difficult question to resolve, EU sources said.
The EU’s Common Position (2001/931/CFSP) on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism includes a bunch of policy decisions and directives. These include directives on enhanced policing of certain persons or organisations, the freezing of assets, and other economic resources belonging to specific persons, groups or entities. It also establishes that no funds, other financial assets and economic resources may be made available to them, whether directly or indirectly.
Welcomed by Israel
DPA adds from Tel Aviv:
Israel welcomed the decision with Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin calling it a “significant step whose importance cannot be exaggerated”.
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